Developer plans townhouse collection

A property developer is planning to use a hotel he has acquired in Cheltenham,

Gloucestershire as the first in a collection of townhouse hotels across the UK.

Benjamin Bowen bought the three-star Hotel on the Park (right) in August and is already poised to acquire another property in London. He told H – The Hotel Magazine: “I’m looking for small townhouse hotels where you can be more focused on service quality and the individual. After London we want to open one in Belfast.”

He said he was “in the last stages” of buying a townhouse hotel in central London. At the grade II listed, 12-bedroom Cheltenham property, Bowen intends to spend £700,000 on a complete refurbishment, as well as building a spa in the basement. In the future he plans to add extra rooms.

“I just love the architecture of the building, and it has a wonderful little garden that’s got so much potential,” he said. “The hotel is already in a very good state, but we’ll be putting in marble bathrooms with under-floor heating and sunken TVs – just taking it to another level.”

Bowen also jointly owns a five-star resort in the Caribbean, the Beach House on Barbuda.